FC Porto Vintage handball rule Europe at 35+ and 45+, win Masters | OneFootball

FC Porto Vintage Handball closed the season with a rare stamp of authority: they conquered Europe in two age groups, +35 and +45, and also added the National Masters Championship. As the trophies were handed over to the Museum, Mário Santos stressed the weight of that journey, the bond between former athletes and the club, and the ambition to extend this winning cycle. In essence, the message was clear: preserve identity, compete to win, and keep alive the connection of those who have already made history in blue and white, as he summed it up: “keep winning.”

It was a moment for taking stock, but also for reaffirming the path ahead. Mário Santos, sporting director for the club’s disciplines, spoke with the confidence of a season finished on a high, with the central idea firmly underlined: Vintage Handball does not live on memory alone, it lives on high standards, continuity, and belonging.

Looking back on 2025/26 in retrospect, the official painted a broad picture of a team that once again placed FC Porto at the top, at home and abroad. More than celebrating titles, he highlighted the competitive and symbolic significance of a group made up of former leading players and others developed within the club.

“It was an excellent season, in which yet another team managed to experience the Year of the Dragon, with a return to victories both nationally and internationally,” he said. “Vintage Handball won the most prestigious trophy at European level in a competition featuring several renowned clubs. Many of these athletes represented the senior handball team in the past or were developed at FC Porto, and now have the opportunity to continue practising the sport at the highest level and to set an example. Many of them hold leadership positions, inside or outside FC Porto, and they are able to lead by example through their work and through the bond they maintain with the Club and with handball.”

In Mário Santos’s words, success is not merely the accumulation of cups, but the natural extension of a competitive culture. The idea of setting an example, repeated throughout his remarks, gives substance to a project that wants to honour the past without giving up the present.

When he paused on the debut at Dragão Arena, the official drew on memory to give it a role in the present. The focus was on the continuity of a bond that spans generations and that, in his view, helps preserve the club’s identity.

“Many of them were champions with the senior team at Dragão Arena, and continuing that bond is a way of keeping FC Porto’s spirit alive and recognising the effort these athletes make to stay active, competing and representing the Club always with the same ambition to win.”

That recognition has a double reach: it celebrates what these athletes once were and values what they continue to be. There is no room here for a merely nostalgic approach; instead, there is a defence of an identity that carries on in practice, training, and competition.

The next glance turned to the future, without any change in tone or standards. Mário Santos made it clear that the next step is to consolidate the habit of winning and strengthen these teams with figures who left their mark on the club.

“We want to keep winning, both nationally and internationally, and we want to continue attracting athletes who represented the Club and who were role models at FC Porto to be part of these teams, always with the same spirit that made them great athletes and with the desire to keep training and competing to win.”

The ambition, therefore, does not end with the season now concluded. FC Porto Vintage Handball wants to extend its competitive strength with the same identity-driven raw material that Mário Santos praised from the very first moment: former champions, a sense of belonging, and an intact desire to keep winning.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.